Subscribers who sign up for new 3G [4]and 4G data plans with China Mobile (Beijing, P.R.C.) in Hong Kong as of Friday will be able to travel to China to use mobile data services for a fixed monthly fee, reducing data roaming expenses, the carrier said in a statement.

Hong Kong has already launched next generation 4G [2]services, with CSL Ltd, a unit of Australia's Telstra Corp, the first to do so in November 2010, though China has yet to do so commercially, with some cities undergoing trial runs.

China, which has the world's largest number of mobile phone subscribers with the number crossing a billion, still mainly uses 3G technology[4].

"Broadband [5]demand for accessing the Internet "anytime and anywhere" is facing tremendous growth, corresponding with the global explosion of data," Tiger Lin, chairman of China Mobile Hong Kong, said in a statement.